Typical painting procedures used in painting walls or baseboards call for the application of a masking tape over the edge of the carpet or other floor covering abutting the wall or baseboard. The manual laying out of such a masking tape is time-consuming and does not always result in a complete masking of the floor covering. In order to fully protect the strands of carpet pile nearest to the wall or baseboard, the edge of the masking tape must be pressed against the base of the wall or of the baseboard in order to prevent any paint from running into the carpet strands. However, this procedure prevents the painting of the lower section of the wall or baseboard closest to the ground. Most painters prefer to use a large blade that is inserted between the edge of the carpet and the base of the wall or baseboard then tilted back toward the operator to allow access to the lowest part of the surface to be painted. As the wall-facing side of the blade becomes soiled with paint, it must be wiped frequently to prevent any paint from dripping around the lower edge of the blade and soil the carpet. This procedure is a two-handed operation preventing the painter from using one hand to hold the paint applicator and the other to hold the paint bucket.
There is a need for an efficient masking tape applicator that can be used prior to the painting operation to fully protect the edge of a carpet or other type of floor covering while allowing painting of the wall or baseboard down to the floor.